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Came back from holiday to find the TV on the blink. It's had a good run - one of the first flat screens from way back when - so I think it's reasonable to replace rather than repair.
I'm guessing anything I pick will be streets ahead in terms of performance and picture quality, so I'm at a loss.
I'm definitely after a Smart TV, preferably one running Android TV rather than manufacturer's own restricted take on it. Other than that....? Is 3D or 4k worth it?
Size wise, 42"-43" would be perfect. Nothing bigger than 43" will fit in the space though, and I wouldn't want to go smaller than 40".
John Lewis. Richer sounds. Anything well reviewed and on offer with their 5/6 yr guarantee.
This has been discussed loads lately, have a look back through the forum.
TL;DR - At that size, 4K is a gimmick. 3D, do you want to sit there wearing 3D glasses all day? Smart generally better to use a separate box.
Panasonic / Toshiba / Samsung.
3D not worth it unless you are at the iMax, i.e. something filling your field of view.
4K only worth it if you have a 4K feed, otherwise your TV has to do extra processing to 'upscale' to 4K.
John Lewis for the 5 year warranty.
Smart not really worth it either, better to get an external box like a Fire TV, or Now TV, or even a chromecast, which will very probably have a lot more processing grunt than your TV and will therefore offer a nicer user interface.
Also the boxes are pretty cheap and you won't be reliant on the TV manufacturer keeping its software up to date.
I would go with a decent Panasonic - not at all sure about Samsungs warranty (or their upscaling software).
I bought a sony bravia 43 tv from richer sounds, it has android/full hd 1080 for £399 with 6 year warranty. I have had it a few months and still getting used to the features of what it has - google play store (kodi, es, mx, etc), screen mirroring
I recently got the panasonic 40" CS520 - HDTV/ really nice picture, good viewing angles - currently £320 at john lewis.
has netflix (dedicated button to launch on the remote) and the amazon app preloaded along with iplayer, all4, itv and C5 apps.
Doesnt have a fancy interface but it works just fine, if slightly slow
Did look at the panasonic 40" CX680 4K tv but decided the £500 price tag was too much for our viewing habits with a lot of SD tv as we dont have full compliment of freeview and HD channels in the valley.